Lexington woman charged after disabled brother found among garbage, feces

A Lexington woman has pleaded not guilty to neglect after her disabled brother was found last week in a home where trash and human waste had piled up.

Betty Wilson, identified in court documents as the disabled man's sister, was charged Monday with neglect of an adult, a felony. She was arraigned Tuesday.

According to documents filed in Fayette District Court, there was no working water in the Shawnee Avenue home where Wilson and her brother lived for about two years. There was "no bathing, other than a sponge bath, and no usable toilets," the document said.

Cups and buckets of urine and feces were found in the home, the document said.

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Officials went to the house at 452 Shawnee Avenue on Thursday after an anonymous person called 911 and said there was a gas leak.

When firefighters arrived, they found no gas leak, but they discovered the man alone in the house while Wilson apparently was at work. Court documents said she is employed at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center.

The house was so full of garbage that the front door couldn't be opened more than a few inches, officials said. Trash, clothing and rotten food were piled several feet high and, in some places, were to the ceiling, the document said.

Police, code enforcement officials and a representative from the state's Cabinet for Health and Family Services were called. The house was condemned.

According to court documents, Wilson was the "Social Security payee" for her brother. She "handles medicine, laundry, money and food," the document said.

Wilson was released from jail after she paid a $1,000 bond, according to court documents. As a condition of her bond, she was told not to have contact with her brother.

The whereabouts of Wilson and her brother on Tuesday were unclear. A spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services said she could not comment "due to confidentiality."

A message left for Wilson was not returned. Wilson was scheduled to return to court May 7.